Powerful images of young black women in South Africa went viral over the weekend, as students at Pretoria High School for Girls peacefully protested their school’s racist hair policies. Girls as young as 13 raised fists and signs in response to the affluent (and formerly whites-only) institution’s code of conduct, which unfairly discriminates against black students. While afros are not specifically mentioned in the code, multiple girls report being sent home for wearing afros or cornrows, while one girl apparently had her suspension upheld on the grounds that her natural hair was “uncontrollable.” A Facebook post by the girl’s aunt asserts that the teenager was originally threatened with suspension after giving a speech in class about employment and the ills of apartheid.
Many people have pointed out on Twitter — where #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh has been trending since Sunday — that the issue is bigger than hair. Black women’s aesthetics have been policed harshly in the African country, where apartheid rule ended in 1994. A petition calling for revision to the code of conduct and repercussions for teachers implementing racist policies has gained nearly 20,000 signatures, and emphasizes that this is only the latest example of the nation’s black population being forced to comply with Eurocentric beauty rules. “It is unacceptable that in a country in which Black people are a demographic majority, we still today continue to be expected to pander to whiteness and to have it enforced through school policy,” the petition reads. “Black children should be allowed to just be children, without being burdened with having to assert their humanity.”
This picture is iconic. This young woman is legendary. #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh pic.twitter.com/l5cPV0r154
— #InvolveYouth (@InvolveYouth) August 29, 2016
The world finds a black woman who fights for what is rightfully hers offensive. #stopracismatpretoriagirls pic.twitter.com/NlVmQQFm0f
— Khaya Dlanga (@khayadlanga) August 29, 2016
#StopRacismAtPretoriaGirls outside #PretoriaGirlsHigh right now. pic.twitter.com/FjAZ79u4yZ
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) August 29, 2016
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Twitter